(Dan Collier / Shutterstock.com)
Human history is full of trailblazing projects to conquer parts of the planet previously thought to be uninhabitable.
Since the beginning of humankind, we have settled in almost any environment imaginable, the planet's oceans being the only exception...until now.
A pilot project by the Seasteading Institute currently underway off the coast of French Polynesia is set to become the first functioning seastaeding community by 2020, offering homes for up to 300 people.
Seasteading - the idea of creating fully autonomous and self-sustaining settlents in international waters - has long been the fantasy of dreamers and tech-billionaires alike.
For now, the seasteaders are still cooperating with local governments but the ultimate plan is to create communities in international waters independent from any governing force.
The world's first floating city will exist in a ‘special economic seazone’, allowing the the Seasteading Institute to try out some of its ideas in a relatively controlled environment.
Engineers and architects are busy scouting potential locations and their ambitions extend to the creation of a research institute in the floating city, and even a power plant to sell energy and clean water back to their host nation.
Past attempts at getting a seastead off the ground have not been fruitful and a planned prototype in the San Francisco Bay was never built.
This time around, the team behind the Floating Island Project are sure of their new idea, and are currently in the process of demonstrating the project’s viability to the French Polynesian local government.
If they can actually demonstrate the project's feasibility, development of the pilot project could start as early as 2018.
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